


HHMM

by detritius



Category: Better Call Saul (TV)
Genre: Gen, Stream of Consciousness, general distasteful bitterness and snobbery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-03 01:01:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4080541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detritius/pseuds/detritius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On finding out his brother's gotten himself a law degree, Charles McGill has a decision to make.</p>
            </blockquote>





	HHMM

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short little speculative fic written sometime after the Better Call Saul season finale. I was wondering what Chuck McGill could possibly have been thinking, to handle things the way he did, and before I knew it, I'd written this.

There was already Howard, preening, puffed up, too-slick-his-own-good Howard with his arresting blue eyes and his billboard-perfect smile. That was alright. Howard was what the clients expected, even if he’d gotten his degree from some little no-name school. Even if he was, at best, a capable middle manager, flash and charm and no more brains than God gave an armadillo. Howard knew his place, and he made a good face for HHM. He was amiable, just respectable enough, and he did as he was told. 

And then Jimmy. Jimmy, already an embarrassment and a liability, even tucked away in the mail room, out of sight. Jimmy, both obsequious and sly, a grating social climber with enough connections to do real damage. Glib, fast-talking Jimmy with the sort of amoral animal cunning that has no place in a court of law.

Jimmy and Howard. Howard and Jimmy.

Howard had already said he was too old fashioned, too _stuffy_ , as if Howard had any right to such an opinion. This firm was built on his back, guided by his steady hand and protected by his unshakable reputation, and the likes of Howard Hamlin had no right to question him. And Howard had smiled weakly and said he only meant it as a joke, rolled over and showed his belly like a good dog, but he had still shown doubt, and doubt comes before disloyalty. Howard liked Jimmy, worse, _admired_ him for his work ethic. Couldn’t he see it was all a con? No, not Howard, who saw Jimmy’s surface shine and mistook it for real brilliance. Howard, who had never been to Cicero.

How long until HHM became HHMM, Jimmy with his feet up on the conference table, smirking across at Howard? Howard, already too ambitious by half and too arrogant to believe himself susceptible to Jimmy’s crooked influence. Howard will stroke and cosset Jimmy, and Jimmy will drip poison in his ear, and where will the law be then?

Each on his own, they’re manageable. Together, they will drag this firm through the mud.

No. No. The law needs and deserves a defender. That comes first, before family, before money, before anything. And some things cannot be borne.

He will not stand by and let this happen.


End file.
